The starting midfield -- seniors Adam Sear and Will Yeatman and sophomore Jake Bernhardt -- finished with no points on 0-for-5 shooting. The performance was offset, however, by the emergence of the second unit.

The second line -- redshirt sophomore Drew Snider, sophomore Michael Shakespeare and freshman John Haus -- each scored two goals for the sixth-ranked Terrapins (4-0).

The starting midfielders finished with nine shifts. The second unit had 11. In the crucial fourth quarter, the second unit was on the field for four consecutive possessions.

"It was unbelievable," Maryland Coach Dave Cottle said. "They're three good young players. . . . We rested our first [midfield] because I didn't think they were very good."

Initially, it looked as if there would be opportunity for Maryland to rest against Towson (0-3).

A goal by Tigers graduate student Christian Pastirik cut Maryland's lead to 4-3 early in the second quarter, but the Terrapins answered with a 4-0 run -- on goals by Shakespeare, Snider, sophomore Joe Cummings and redshirt junior Brian Farrell -- and led 8-3 at halftime.

For the third quarter, Towson Coach Tony Seaman benched starting goalie Rob Wheeler and inserted sophomore Travis Love, who faced two point-blank shots in the opening two minutes of the quarter. He saved both.

And the Tigers used the momentum to close to 9-7 following a goal by junior Tim Stratton with 13 minutes 57 seconds to play. But Shakespeare and Haus scored back-to-back goals to put away the game.

Towson senior Will Harrington scored three goals, and Love made seven saves. But the Tigers were left to regret a 1-for-8 performance on extra-man offense.

"I thought Travis Love was terrific in goal. In the first three minutes of the second half they could've been up by 12 goals and he saved everything they shot at him," Seaman said. "He made five saves I didn't know he was capable of making."

Both teams have a busy upcoming week. Towson hosts Navy on Tuesday and No. 1 Virginia on Sunday. As well as playing Penn on Monday, Maryland faces UMBC on Saturday; the Retrievers have a three-game winning streak in the series.

Maryland's chances of ending that streak are helped by the second unit's emergence.

"The second line has been playing together for a couple months now and I think we have great chemistry," Shakespeare said. "Other teams are preparing for that first midfield line so much because it has so many weapons on it that it opens up things for us."

Their contributions were particularly helpful given that Grant Catalino, Maryland's leading scorer, was held without a shot. One week after he scored five goals against Duke, including the winning goal in overtime, Catalino finished with one assist and four penalties.

"It says something that we can score 12 goals without getting a goal from him," Cottle said.

-- VIRGINIA 12, CORNELL 4: The top-ranked Cavaliers scored three goals in the first five minutes and cruised to a victory over the No. 8 Big Red in Ithaca, N.Y.

Chris Bocklet, Shamel Bratton, Rhamel Bratton and Colin Briggs scored two goals apiece for Virginia, which led 6-1 at halftime. Bocklet and Steele Stanwick each added two assists, and Adam Ghitelman made 14 saves.

The four goals scored by Cornell tied for its fewest in a game in Coach Jeff Tambroni's tenure, which began in 2000. -- SYRACUSE 15, GEORGETOWN 12: Stephen Keogh scored five goals to lead the No. 2 Orange (3-1, 1-0 Big East) to a home win over the 11th-ranked Hoyas (2-2, 1-1).

Scott Kocis scored three goals and Craig Dowd had four assists for Georgetown.

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